Drawing Up the Dunleavy Game Plan for Style

Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy faces a tall order this week. As the NBA playoffs continue, he must compete with former Laker coach Pat Riley’s success, not only on the court but also in the fashion arena.

“It just so happens I’m following the fashion king of the NBA,” Dunleavy groused good-naturedly earlier this season.

His first year on the job, Dunleavy chose David Rickey & Co. of Costa Mesa to supply most of his court-side wardrobe.

For the playoff games, Laker fans will see Dunleavy in a navy double-breasted suit made especially for the series. He’ll also wear a black and white tweed sport jacket with black slacks, if the Lakers outlast the competition long enough.

Dunleavy’s classic-with-a-twist look has already cut quite a sartorial swath. He has a penchant for navy suits, including one with a single-breasted jacket with patch pockets for a nontraditional touch. There’s also his silk-wool-blend sport coat in a tan and taupe plaid paired with coffee-colored slacks, and a silk sport coat in an olive-toned Glen plaid.

His ties supply a bolder contrast. With the olive sport coat, he has worn a silk tie with a large rust, raspberry and olive floral print. For the navy suits, he chose a silk tie of royal blue and white that looks like an abstract watercolor.

The experts who helped him assemble his wardrobe are store owners Rick Lamitie, David Heil and David Schwartz, who offered their services shortly after he was named the new coach.

“We completely put together our client’s wardrobe--his suits, his shirts, his belts, his socks, even his cuff links,” Lamitie explained. Clients are shown fabric swatches and sketches of suits and tailors are available to offer hints.

Dunleavy has a special deal. Of the first dozen suits he took home this year, he paid for six, explained Lamitie. The store supplied him with another six custom-made styles to wear to games. Each is valued from $1,500 to $2,000, from the store’s highest-priced Platinum collection.

Other customers include prominent Orange County businessmen as well as sports luminaries Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky and Bo Jackson.

“They (customers) tell their friends, ‘My tailor makes clothes for Wayne Gretzky,’ ” Schwartz explained.

Some need coaching from the tailors. Not Dunleavy.

“I pick out what I like, and they make it for me,” he said. He was wearing an olive-green silk suit and chartreuse shirt from the store.

Although many assume that Riley’s reputation put extra pressure on the new coach to beef up his wardrobe, Dunleavy disagreed. “I’ve always had an interest in looking nice,” he said. Gentlemen’s Quarterly magazine named him 1990’s best-dressed coach.

Dunleavy noted that he and Riley have very different styles of dressing: “He’s more severe. He wears mostly Italian. I’m more conservative than Pat.”

Dunleavy’s suits are more structured than the soft-shouldered Giorgio Armani styles Riley favors.

Owners Lamitie, Heil and Schwartz, who are in their early 30s, joined forces to open their store three years ago.

Their clients receive a portfolio with purchases, and every item has a number. “This way they know if they want to wear coat No. 7, they can wear it with pant No. 3, shirt No. 6 or tie No. 2,” Lamitie said.

Prices start at about $400 for machine-made suits and rise to about $2,000 for custom designs.